Actually Spike has been trying to attract a younger audience since it changed it's name from TNN. The Video Game Awards are part of that effort. The games in the list are mostly the standard teens and 20 somethings fare which is somewhat dubious to call mature. I say this as a 25 year old male.

 Yes we do, but that doesn't stop the list being rubbish.

They are obviously aiming for a demographic and not actually caring about the quality of the games, while I agree that both Bioshock and Halo 3 should be sitting on that list so should Super Mario Galaxy as it is undeniably one of the highest quality titles so far this year, as evidenced by the reviews so far.

 Oh and opinions can be rubbish, let me prove it to you.

 If I listed a set of GotY candidates;

Boogie
Lair
Ninja Bread Man
Balls of Fury 

 I would expect to be laughed at, opinion or not.

Horrible list, horrible network, horrible awards show. Need we say more? Why care?

Being rubbish to you, but not to others, the entire point of why thats THEIR LIST.

Opinions can be rubbish......to you its not fact

btw my opinion is that alot of the list is crap

Don't start another crying war that opinion=/=fact.

yea i really dont want to

did any of the other marios get GoTY? if not, i don't see why SMG should

Time for people to get over their Mario fetish, and perhaps oh accept the market for what it is. The market is filled with many genres one of the least popular being Platformers. While one of the most popular being First Person Shooters. Mario cannot be considered for game of the year, because it is in a unpopular genre. Further more it runs on the low definition system. With no serious online play options. In plain lingo its handicapped out of contention.

You should probably brace yourself for more such disappointments. Being the best in one of the least popular genres is probably not going to trump. Being fantastic in one of the more popular genres. By the way thats the way it should be. These contests should be a balance between virtue and popularity. Otherwise you get into a situation where a model train game could beat a Mario. Simply because its the best model train game ever built, and has gigabytes of useless data about train schedules.

Suck it up and deal with it. The world does not revolve around an Italian plumber mascot, and it hasn't done so for quite some time. How did I know the first second I read the game of the year dozens of Nintendo fans would throw themselves a tantrum. Are you guys really being honest with yourselves. Seriously you know Mario does not belong on that list. The other games have solid claims. Greater mass market appeal, and they have brought innovation to gaming. Mario is very much the same old game we say over ten years ago. With some improvements and twists but its the same game never the less. Which is fine great game then, and great game now. However its hardly revolutionary, and will never have the impact those games on the list will.

Uncharted.. thats not even out wtf. Spike = Failure anyways. They are as bad as G4. Wait till IGN's GotY.

seriously:

Breakthrough Technology
Crysis
Halo 3
Portal
Rock Band

Only 2 of those belong and they arent Crysis and Halo 3. WiiPlay should be there and Eye of Judgment.  total BS list all around.